IMAGINE AUSTIN COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
History
In October 2004, the Austin City Council originally issued a Request for Qualifications in order to select a consulting firm to re-write the City's Land Development Code and supporting technical manuals. The Council postponed that re-write indefinitely, but the issue reemerged when the Council instead decided to update the City's Comprehensive Growth Plan, also known as the Austin Tomorrow Plan. This plan has not been updated since 1979, although it was amended in 2008 through a limited update that removed obsolete policies and replaced them with current ones.
In June 2008, the Council moved forward with an interim update to the Austin Tomorrow Plan. Council also directed city staff to begin the process for a full-scale, new comprehensive plan, which is intended to both knit together all the current policies and take the city into the future. An updated plan addressing transportation, housing, land use, and the environment is intended to provide a new, less complicated and more directed Land Development Code. The new plan is expect to take two years to complete and will cost an estimated $1.8 million. The process for completing the plan will also provide a forum for discussion of city-wide policy. The plan would be updated every five years.
On Friday, February 6, 2009, the City released the names of the consultants that were the finalists to re-draft the Comprehensive Growth Plan: ACP Visioning+Planning, HNTB, and WRT Design. These finalists made presentations to Council on Thursday, February 12, 2009. Though the consultant team was scheduled for selection by Council on Thursday, February 26, 2009, concerns regarding the consultant selection process and other issues sparked a delay in the decision until Thursday, April 23, 2009.
On Thursday, April 23, 2009, the Austin City Council selected WRT Design as the consultant to guide the creation of the new Comprehensive Plan. The motion to select WRT Design also directed the City Manager to negotiate a contract with the consultant team and bring it back to Council for final approval. Once developed, the Comprehensive Plan will be reviewed by the Planning Commission. A two-year timeline is proposed for the development of the new Comprehensive Plan. The new estimated budget for these services is $1.3 million.
A new Comprehensive Plan is being pursued to chart Austin's near, intermediate, and long-term future to preserve and enhance the community's cherished quality of life. The plan will need to address key themes currently at the center of civic debate such as growth and development, sustainability and climate change, environmental protection, neighborhood preservation, affordable housing, economic development, and local and regional mobility.
The new Comprehensive Plan will have two components. The first is a Vision and Policy Framework component that lays out the vision for the community and incorporates key themes to respond to the question "Where are we going?" The second component creates the 10 City Charter-required elements and addresses the question "How do we get there?" The required elements are: future land-use; traffic circulation and mass transit; wastewater, solid waste, drainage, and potable water; conservation and environmental resources; recreation and open space; housing; public services and facilities, including but not limited to a capital improvement program; public buildings and related facilities; economic, including commercial and industrial development and redevelopment; health and human services.
The Comprehensive Plan subcommittee of the Planning Commission recommended adding three additional elements to the Comprehensive Plan at its meeting on Tuesday, September 29, 2009. Those elements are children and education, cultural/arts preservation, and historic preservation. The City's charter calls for 10 specific Comprehensive Plan elements, but elements may be added depending on the level of community support.
Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Committee
Council approved a series of changes to the composition of the Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Committee and who can qualify for the committee at its meeting on Thursday, August 27, 2009. These changes include:
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Expanding the size of CPCAC from 14-21 members to 21-29 members.
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Banning City Hall registered lobbyists from serving on the Committee.
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Limiting Committee Member absences to three consecutive meetings; members who miss four consecutive meetings will be replaced.
The City of Austin accepted applications from citizens to serve on the Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Committee through September 3, 2009. On Wednesday, September 16, 2009, the Comprehensive Plan and Transportation Subcommittee comprised of Council Members Sheryl Cole, Laura Morrison, and Chris Riley recommended 25 individuals to serve on Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Committee (CPCAC). On Thursday, September 24, 2009, Council approved the nominated individuals, including RECA members Jerry Winetroub and Kent Collins, plus four more. Four additional approved four additional appointees on Thursday, October 15. The city of Austin appointees are:
Roger Cauvin (Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association, Congress for New Urbanism)
Perla Cavazos (Former Austin City Council Candidate)
Scooter Cheatham (Architect, Botanist, Professor)
Kent Collins (Centro Partners LLC)
The Honorable Margaret Cooper (District Judge) – expected to Chair the Committee
Patricia Dabbert (AISD)
Rob D'Amico (Writer, President of League of Bicycling Voters)
The Honorable Wilhemina Delco (Texas House of Representatives, 1974-95, Professor)
Greg Esparza (Architect, Affordable Housing Advocate)
Frances Ferguson (Affordable Housing Advocate)
Cecilia "Ceci" Gratias (Out Youth)
Lawrence Gross, Jr. (Vertex Software)
Maria Hernandez
Ora Houston (East Austin Community Advocate)
John Langmore (Envision Central Texas)
Roberto Martinez (Engineer, MWM Design Group)
Frances McIntyre (President, League of Women Voters)
Jennifer McPhail (Disabled Community Advocate)
Rebecca Melancon (Austin Independent Business Alliance, Co-founder of In Fact Daily)
Karl-Thomas Musselman (Burnt Orange Report, ActBlue)
Jonathan Ogren (Land Planner at Bosse & Pharis)
Juan Padilla (Computer Software Consultant)
Lori Renteria (East Austin Community Advocate)
Jose "Danny" Rodriguez
Regina L. Rogoff (People's Community Clinic, Central Texas Legal Aid)
Cookie Ruiz (Executive Director, Ballet Austin)
Fritz Steiner (Dean, UT School of Architecture)
Evan Taniguchi (Architect)
Donna Tiemann (Barley & Pfeiffer Architects, Save Barton Creek Association, Sierra Club, Austin Neighborhoods Council)
Candice Wade (African American Resource Advisory Commission)
Allen Weeks (President, St. John's Neighborhood Association)
Jerry Winetroub (The Jerald Winetroub Company)
Mark Yznaga (Liveable City)
Travis County Commissioners appointed the following four citizens to serve on the City of Austin Comprehensive Plan Citizen Advisory Committee:
Precinct One – Jack Gullahorn, appointee
Precinct Two – Mark Lind, appointee
Precinct Three – Ira Yates, appointee
Precinct Four – William B. Hilgers
NOTE: Since appointment, the following individuals have gone off the task force: Lawrence Gross, Maria Hernandez, William Hilgers, Juan Padilla, Danny Rodriguez, and Candice Wade; and the following individuals have been added: Roland Hayes, Charles Miles, and Carol Torgrimson.
The Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Committee (CPCAC) meets the second Tuesday of every month from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The public may attend, but not participate in the discussion. However, the first three people to sign up are allowed to speak during citizens communications at the beginning of the meeting. Its Task Force Organization subcommittee issued a report on how the CPCAC should organize itself and conduct its work on December 8, 2009. Click the following links for status reports as of January 8, 2010, February 26, 2010, and April 9, 2010.
Phase 1
On Monday, October 12, 2009, the City of Austin officially kicked-off the creation of a new Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan with an open house at the Austin Convention Center featuring activities, live music, and games. Participants were encouraged to provide feedback on different aspects of the plan and record comments about Austin's special aspects.
The City of Austin also asked individuals to complete an online survey as part of the kick-off effort for the Comprehensive Plan, which will lay out a vision for Austin's future, addressing issues such as land use, housing, and transportation. The survey was open through Wednesday, March 31, 2010 and asked about Austin's strengths and weaknesses and solicited ideas for improving the City. Besides completing the survey, citizens were invited to get involved in the Comprehensive Plan process by attending meetings, Community Forum Series #1 entitled "Issues and Aspirations," to "imagine the city of their dreams." These meetings were held from November 9 through 12, 2009. At these meetings, the City of Austin's Transportation Department gathered public input for its Strategic Mobility Plan at a booth it staffed at each of the comprehensive plan public meetings. Click here for a link to the City's Imagine Austin web site with an analysis of the attendees of the public meetings and the raw results of those meetings.
Through April 9, 2010. open houses in October were attended by 230 people and the six forums held in November were attended by 315 people. In addition, 3,828 people responded to the online survey and 987 people participated in 160 "Meetings-in-a-Box."
In addition, a Community Survey, administered by the ETC Institute during February and March 2010, was completed in April 2010 representing the views of 1,311 contacted through phone/mail surveys. The purpose of the survey was to gather citizen input as a cornerstone of the long-range planning effort.
Phase 2
Using the results of the first round of Comp Plan community input, components of a Vision statement for Austin's future were developed. A Vision survey was offered to the public for rating each component of the statement and making suggestions for improvements. The City compiled initial feedback to the Vision statement, in which participants ranked components of the Vision statement on a scale of one to four, based on six Community Forums hosted at the end of April and beginning of May 2010. After a public hearing on the Vision Statement, the City Council approved a Vision statement on Thursday, August 26, 2010.
The City held a series of meetings beginning Monday, September 20, 2010 through Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at which participants could share their opinions on the five different visions for Austin's future. In addition to these City hosted meetings, RECA hosted a Meeting-in-a-Box open to all members on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. at the RECA office. These visions are:
- Trend Scenario - Created by City staff, and assumes current trends will continue.
- Scenario A (Distributed) - Most similar to the Trend Scenario, but this future scenario shows growth and new development distributed throughout the planning area. Most homes and jobs are separated, rather than appearing as live-work-play centers.
- Scenario B (Crescent) - This future scenario distributes most new growth in a crescent shape, from north to east to south. It conserves open space primarily to the west, i.e., over the Edwards Aquifer.
- Scenario C (Centers) - This future scenario has the most mixed-use activity centers throughout the area. It requires the fewest roadway improvements and is the second most compact development pattern.
- Scenario D (Linear) - This future scenario concentrates development along the north-south axis of I-35, mostly between MoPac and I-35 and southeast US 183. It is the most compact and has the most mixed-use development overall.
On Thursday, March 10, 2011, Austin City Council members approved the following three major work products that will form the basis of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan: the Vision Statement, Preferred Growth Scenario, and Plan Framework. This concludes Phase 2 activities.
Phase 3
During Phase 3 the city established Working Groups that met in a series of open-invitation public meetings built around seven topics (or Building Blocks), from March 2011 through August 2011. The Working Groups identified and prioritized actions needed to achieve the Imagine Austin Vision.
What topics or Building Blocks do the Working Groups cover?
The Working Groups were organized around the following seven topic-specific Building Blocks, which will become the core chapters of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan:
- Land Use and Transportation (including Urban Design)
- Economy
- Housing and Neighborhoods
- Conservation and Environmental Resources
- City Facilities and Services (including Water, Wastewater, Drainage, and Solid Waste; Public Buildings, Services, and Facilities; and Recreation and Open Space)
- Society (including Families, Children, and Education and Health and Human Services)
- Culture (including Arts, Culture, and Creativity and Historic and Cultural Preservation)
The Imagine Austin team held six panel discussions of key issues facing Austin's future, resulting from the discussions from the May 2 and 9 Working Group meetings dealing with map issues. In addition there were panel discussions organized and hosted by the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Task Force on the following topics: 1) Complete Communities; 1) Open space and green infrastructure, 3) Transitions/Compatibility; 4) Development in the ETJ and along SH-130; 5) Connecting State Highway 45 Southwest; and 6) Development over the Edwards Aquifer.
Draft Plan Released October 1, 2011
At a city-sponsored event on Saturday, October 1, 2011, City officials released the draft Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan after nearly two years of feedback from the public and consultant team.
The plan opens with the following Vision for Austin's Future: "As it approaches its 200th anniversary, Austin is a beacon of sustainability, social equity and economic opportunity; where diversity and creativity are celebrated; where community needs and values are recognized; where leadership comes from its citizens and where the necessities of life are affordable and accessible to all. Austin's greatest asset is its people: passionate about our city, committed to its improvement, and determined to see this vision become a reality."
The following Core Principles are included in the plan:
- Grow as a compact, connected city.
- Integrate nature into the City.
- Provide paths to prosperity for all.
- Develop as an affordable and healthy community.
- Sustainably manager water and other environmental resources.
The plan further lays out the following five chapters on how to accomplish its ambitious goals.
- Chapter One (The Roadmap and the Road Ahead)
- Chapter Two (Experiencing Austin: Who Are We Today?)
- Chapter Three (Imagining Austin: Our Vision of a Complete Community)
- Chapter Four (Shaping Austin: Building the Complete Community)
- Chapter Five (Implementation and Measuring Success)
RECA provided initial, broad-based comments on the draft plan on Monday, October 31, 2011, the original deadline for public comment. The public comment period continued through December 15, 2011. Nearly 2,500 Austin residents participated in the survey. Respondents listed "Improved Transportation for Cars, Transit, Bikes, and Walking" as the number one priority. Other priorities include "Manage Long-Term Water Resources," "Affordable Housing Throughout Austin," and "Update City Rules for Land Uses." Please visit the City's web site for a complete list of priorities.
On Monday, January 23, 2012, the Comprehensive Plan and Transportation Committee of Austin City Council received an update on the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan from Citizen Advisory Task Force (CATF) Member Cookie Ruiz, Planning Commissioner David Anderson, and City of Austin staff Garner Stoll. The CATF went through the more than 1,300 comments received on the Plan and categorized them as either inconsistent or consistent with the Plan or requiring more review. Most of the comments that required further review pertained to affordability and gentrification. CATF also worked with the Planning Commission to review the growth concept map.
The City of Austin’s Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Task Force endorsed the draft February 2012 Imagine Austin citywide comprehensive plan after hearing public input and scrutinizing its vision for this community’s future.
To see the redlined changes to the comprehensive plan, click on the links below:
Spreadsheet of comments (MS Excel file - contains the comments received on the September 26, 2011 draft plan; each comment has a unique ID number (column C) that is tied to the text in the chapter files below )
On Wednesday, April 11, 2012, the Planning Commission approved the draft Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan on a vote of 7-0. The Commission will send the plan to City Manager Marc Ott with its recommended changes. A detailed summary of the recommended changes and review process is available on the City's web site. On April 5, 2012, RECA sent comments to the Planning Commission and City staff in advance of the final Planning Commission hearings. The three main points RECA advocated for follow:
- State Highway 45 Southwest should be placed back in the draft plan. This highway was removed from an earlier draft. RECA advocates adding it back into the plan to reflect the CAMPO 2035 Regional Transportation Plan. (Planning Commission did not address this comment.)
- The plan should accommodate responsible development over the aquifer, while recognizing existing and emerging regional centers such as Barton Creek Square, the "Y" in Oak Hill, and other centers along major arterials such as US Highway 290, Loop 360, and State Highways 45 and 71. The plan should provide for flexibility regarding the level and intensity of development and redevelopment for these centers. This must include providing, improving, and maintaining good connectivity and transportation networks for these centers. (Planning Commission addressed this via comment 53 on page 7 of its recommended changes.)
- The plan must clarify the purpose of its land-use designations, specifically, if land-use designations have the force of law. (Planning Commission did not address this comment.)
RECA will continue to advocate for changes to the draft Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan as it goes before City Manager Marc Ott and the City Council.
Next Steps
- Thursday, April 26, 2012 – City Council Briefing
- Thursday, May 24, 2012 – City Council Public Hearing
- Summer 2012 – City Council Adoption of Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan
The formal adoption process, per the City's Charter, specifies that the Planning Commission submit the plan to the City Manager. The City Manager then submits the Plan to the City Council with recommendations. The City Council must then hold at least one public hearing. After the public hearing(s), Council can 1) adopt the Plan; 2) adopt the Plan with amendments; or 3) send the Plan back to the Planning Commission with "policy direction" within 60 days. City staff is optimistic that Council will approve the plan in summer 2012. The plan calls for a rewriting of the Land Development Code, which will take place after the plan is adopted.
Resources
RECA's Comments on the final draft Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan (April 2012)
REDLINED version of Draft Plan for Planning Commission Review (February 2012)
Draft Plan for Planning Commission Review (February 2012)
Video Presentation on the Comprehensive Plan at Planning Commission (February 2012)
Imagine Austin September 2011 powerpoint presentation
Community Survey (April 2010)
Community Inventory (February 9, 2010)
City of Austin Web Page
Timeline and Steps for Developing a new Comprehensive Plan
